As a conservative writer in Madison, Dave Blaska must be more lonely that the Maytag repair man. Dave is right on it this week tracking the falling fortunes of "The Kathleen" and speculates on the
possible challengers to Dane County Executive Falk.
Against a backdrop of the degradation of our public spaces by chronic vagrancy, the murders of Joel Marino and Brittany Zimmermann -- in their homes! -- have taken the issue simultaneously to the ground zero of leftist downtown Madison and to the wider county government. People are getting a crash course in why Dane County government matters. They are also learning why the world's greatest park system and all the beautiful lakes and rain gardens are for naught if people don't feel safe.
Who dreamed that, caught up in the glare would be one Kathleen Falk. Jeff Mayers' WisPolitics stock report, published in the Sunday newspaper, has The Kathleen's political stock falling faster than a subprime mortgage derivative.
The question now is whether the controversy will be enough to scare up an opponent or two for her expected re-election campaign next year. Insiders also say her statewide future... is downright dark now. Think of the attack ad material from this case, they note.
Did someone say "attack ad"? You have come to the right place, my pretty. What time is it boys and girls? TIME TO GO NEGATIVE!
It's 3 a.m. The telephone rings. Another public safety crisis. A woman with a pageboy haircut picks up the phone. And hangs up. "Something about life and death," she yawns. "Not lakes and trees."
Yes, it is Kathleen's turn to face the voters in April 2009. She can point to doubling the amount of greenspace -- much of it marshland -- purchased in her 12 years in office for a pretty penny. But will anyone this side of Brett Hulsey really care? Not to diminish the political clout held by the enviros -- they remain the single strongest political force. More powerful than the unions or the Democrat(ic) party.
But her Hillary Clinton-like knifing of Peg Lautenschlager in the A.G.'s race still rankles the Ed Garvey/Hugo Chavez wing of the party. And what does she have to show for it? J.B. Van Hollen.
God bless America!
